Sunday, October 7, 2012

Thursday 12 July 1280, Midday (Considering Options)

"Well, they definitely know we're here now," Oloc says,
stating the obvious. "I am worried there may be another exit to their
lair. They could already been on the way to circle around behind us. I think we
should send Karnak up to remain on the lookout."

He looks to the others for guidance. "Do we enter or continue to
wait?"

Duran replies: "At this point I think we have no choice but to go in and
find them before more of their group return to the cave."

"We could climb up in the trees and snipe anyone coming out of or
returning to the cave," Gaven suggests while looking to see if there are
enough trees in strategic locations for all members of the company.

Varros expresses doubts: "I feel that the trees will be one of the first
places they look as they were using them themselves, as I see it our options
are to enter the cave or fall back, however if we fall back they could gain
reinforcements or sneak out." Varros pauses and considers a moment,
"There is a third option, and that is to hide and continue to wait."

The fire in the entrance continues to burn down as the party
considers its options. Bill and Ollie take it upon themselves to toss some more
wood on to keep it going. You still see no further activity in the cave, nor
does Karnak give any indication that he has spotted anything. Varros gives the
raven a simple signal and the black-winged scout resumes his circuit above and
through the trees.

OOC: Feel free to continue
to discuss, declare an action, or call for an OOC vote as you see fit.

Meanwhile: one turn passed during the discussion in this
post, again with the double wandering monster check, I got no result on
either die roll (you'd think in 14 rolls I'd have gotten at least a single "1" but no...). :-)

18 comments:

Gaven examines the map of the cave and says, "If we enter, I say we fortify the first storage area. That way we cut off their water supply and can make them come to us through the narrow hallway. With that said, falling back is also a good idea. I do not like the idea of going head long into enemy controlled area. "

"Hmmm, cutting off their water supply is a good Idea Gaven. I like the plan. Retreat is also possible if we do this. As much as I hate to attack them in their own base of operations, I fear that if we don't that they will regroup, fortify and be on the alert for the foreseeable future. We have to consider the fact that we have most likely cut their numbers and scared them badly at this point. Personally, I would rather be in our position than theirs in this engagement."

"It is you all that will need to handle the frontline in an engagement. If you do not feel comfortable with the fight, then I say let us fall back," Oloc offers. "We can return at another point or we can pass on what we have done here and leave the rest to Belloc and Alanna to handle as they see fit."

ooc: I wasn't completely sure if there was a strong desire to go in or not. Since Oloc will be doing next to nothing in a fight I decided that he would vote for retreat. And as far as cutting off the water supply, that may take awhile to have an effect, right? But if there are two votes for going in, Oloc will support that option to come to a majority.

Cutting off the water supply could take a while, especially depending on whether or not they have water stored anywhere away from the pool which your information indicates is their supply source. Even if they have no water stored away, the "rule of three's" would apply (three minutes without oxygen, three days without water...)

"I do not think we should go into attack. The numbers are not in our favor."

Gaven looks at the opening of the cave and muses to everyone, "Do you think we can close off the entrance to the cave so that it would be difficult to impossible to escape?"

OOC: how big is the remaining opening? Is there enough large rocks nearby to fill the opening? If so, can we fashion some sort of mechanism/trap to make it so the rocks cave in if they try to get out or can we secure a wall to make it inescapable from the inside?

This way we can make it so they can't easily escape and we can go back to town, rest and get reinforcements. Maybe buy a hunting dog, if available, to track the bandits if they somehow escape the cave.

OOC: The remaining opening is still pretty large. The tunnel leading in is roughly 20' wide x maybe 10' high. The existing waist-high pile of rocks is about 3' high x 3' deep x 20' side to side. A pile to the ceiling would have to have similar dimensions (including depth) so you'd need to make a pile 10' high x 10' deep x 20' side to side. Without mortar or something similar, you would have to just pile the rock up, dry. The ground in this part of the woods is rock- and boulder-strewn, so I'll say the material is there. But it would definitely take the rest of the day (probably longer) to do it. And since this would be dry, unmortared stone, the bandits would be able to just push the top outward from the inside and the top of the pile would roll down creating an opening.

OOC: Rigging some sort of trap would be a possibility. One obvious option you have would be to try and re-rig the bandits' existing trap (I'll assume you guys could look up, see how the trap works and that you could reload it with rock -- it's basically a rock-holding net made from sturdy rope, with some clever knots and hooks that pull free when the tripwire is hit). Of course this trap wouldn't keep the bandits in, it would just kill some of them coming in/out if they werent' aware you reset it.

Alternatively, you could try to come up with some other sort of trap. I would need at least some sort of rough description of what you have in mind (especially if you're proposing something to actually stop the bandits coming out, rather than just hindering them.

Time-wise, it's about a 5-hour march from Ham's Fork to where you are now. Karnak could deliver a message there in probably about a half-hour at top speed. Assuming that some form of reinforcements or scouts were immediately available (they might not be available immediately, or even at all), you expect it to take least 6 hours before anyone could get there, if they came at all. Presumably, Alanna would respond by sending Karnak back to you, and you'd at least have an answer with her in about an hour, maybe a little longer.

A merc, would quite possibly be willing to stay and keep watch, especially if given a proper incentive, and especially if not left alone (i.e. if accompanied by at least one, if not both, of the other mercs).

Basically, anything you can do for them to reduce their risk and/or increase their compensation will increase their willingness to operate on their own (and not just in this situation, but any time you want them to work on their own, though there always will be some things just so risky they won't do it on their own, regardless).

OOC: Another thought after reading Varros' ideas. We could send Karnak with a message asking for reinforcements and continue to wait outside reading to pounce if anything comes out. Then once we hear back from Allana via Karnak we can decide to either wait for reinforcements or move on.

It seems like we are agreed on this plan. I also suggest we take up defensive positions. We have to consider that a wandering monster attack may be inevitible. Varros will send Karnak at full speed and include a map and as much pertinent info as possible for Allana.